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Friday, July 15, 2011

Harry Potter and silly people

So today is the great release of the last Happy Potter movie, and apparently there will be so many sad people out there that a) Kleenex is going to have a fucking field day selling its products b) chocolate manufacturers are rejoicing at the potential spike in sales caused by depressed women everywhere turning to chocolate after the franchise’s end.

I don’t want to be a bitch, but the way things are being hyped, it’s giving me a damn rash.

I confess to never having read any of the Harry Potter books, except Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix. I have watched the movies part 1 -5. I like the concept and the setting and the creation of a parallel universe that all of us as children have wanted to escape into. Magic, wands, spells, things that humans cannot understand – Narnia was like that as well (forget the biblical references for a second please?). Since I haven’t read the books, I will not venture to comment about what Harry Potter means to my childhood.

Here’s what bothers me bout the movie franchise hype though. It has spawned a generation of pathetic people who think their lives are irretrievably twined with the release of the next film in the franchise. It makes me sick. Some women have gone on the record to say that they will never be the same again because they have nothing to look forward to now. Uh, I want to tell them to go read the books, but fuck, these women probably will complain about how intellectually over-burdened they are because of the emotional intensity of the books.

I don’t get it. The books still sell. The books are the ones that gave the movie studios the idea to make the movies in the first place. I don’t see how the movies’ ending is going to affect such a huge change in the emotional landscape of some people that they will be forever psychologically damaged. It makes me want to vomit!

Considering how the Harry Potter hype is shaping up, I don’t think I appreciate the fact that the books are getting undermined because the movies are successful. I mean, get over it man. If you’re so upset, buy the DVDs and watch it whenever you would like. If you think you will never be the same again, buy the books and exercise your brains a little, you will find that it will be good for your health and you might evolve to be a slightly more intelligent human being.

The world is full of surprises and I want to be surprised by non-readers who discover books. But if I ever find out that you think the movie is better than the book, chances are your skull will be cracked open, with great glee and joy, by my hands with the heaviest book I can find.

Here is what you don't get. Some of us have grown up with the books, waiting for the next one to come along, growing up with these magical folks. We now know that there are no more books, and all that we can look forward to is a pseudo-release.. a movie. When you are as crazy a fan of the HP books as I am, and as millions of others are, it is very hard to let go, and accept that there is no more.

Most of the people screaming there are those that fell in love with the books, and are unable to let go. I am proud to be one of them. And I completely disagree that the movies's success undermines the books; it only solidifies their impact. That's my tuppence.

I started reading Harry Potter when I was 10, had just shifted to a foreign country and since I was a shy, quite boy, I did not make friends easily. I remember seeing the promos and ads for the first movie and when I saw a kid reading the first book, I decided to give it a try.

Best decision of my life, really.

You have no idea how much I identified with the various Harry Potter characters and especially Harry during the various stages of my pre-teen and teen years. To say they have left a mark on me is an understatement.

What really got me to read the book was an ad. I still, somehow, vividly remember it.

In, in Harry is standing in front of the mirror, and trying out his Invisibility Cloak for the very first time. That scene did it for me.

So I wouldn't knock down on the films. Also, give the books a try, they helped shape me and countless other people into better versions of themselves. They taught us that doing the right thing sometimes means forgoing the easy option and taking the hard path. They taught us that sometimes it better to have loved, trusted and believed, rather than live in a cynical shell all our lives.

"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living,and, above all, those who live without love."-Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Also, if you 10 mins to spare, watch this video, and especially when Jo is giving her speech and the people gathered start simultaneously chanting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKXuOj9d5o8

And like Shreedhar said, we grew up with these people. Emma, Rupert, Daniel. So the hype is justified.

but yeah, the random vapid freaks who can barely differentiate between the characters, shouldn't be allowed to watch the movie during the first week. Lots of loud obnoxious morons were in my hall today.

Bartimaeus - this post is just me reacting to so many inane news articles about how "fans" will be deprived. For as long as the books exist, Harry Potter and his world and the awesomeness associated with it will go nowhere. We have our imaginations and we will always turn to it when we need our fix of the books we love.

I am planning to buy the books and read them and watch the movies again. Maybe my adult life will change completely after having read it. Who knows :)